Call to Action: How Programs in Three Cities Responded to the Prisoner Reentry Crisis

Call to Action chronicles how individuals, community organizations, faith institutions, businesses and officials mobilized to build partnerships to address escalating numbers of ex-prisoners returning to their communities. The three cities highlighted in this report, Jacksonville, FL; Memphis, TN; and Washington, D.C., were pioneers in responding to the nation's prisoner reentry crisis. They developed impressive programs and eventually joined P/PV's Ready4Work initiative.

In the report's foreword, P/PV President Fred Davie and Vice President for Public Policy and Community Partnerships Renata Cobbs Fletcher argue: "The collective experience of Ready4Work sites highlights the need for more collective and integrated approaches to prisoner reentry -- across cities, regions and states; public and private resources and funding streams need to be redirected, pooled and put to use in more strategic, cost-effective and outcomes-driven efforts. Research findings that show promise for specific program strategies must be at the center of these partnerships, guiding dialogue as well as the design of initiatives and program evaluations."